ADA Accessibility Compliance Overview

Complaince Deadline has been extended to April 2028.
The U.S. Department of Justice has extended the compliance deadlines for the ADA Title II web and mobile application accessibility requirements.

• State and local government entities serving populations of 50,000 or more must now comply by April 26, 2027 (previously April 24, 2026).
• Public entities serving populations under 50,000, as well as all special district governments, now have until April 26, 2028 (previously April 26, 2027) to meet the accessibility requirements.

These extensions were announced in an Interim Final Rule issued by the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, providing additional time for public entities to bring their websites and mobile applications into compliance with the ADA accessibility standards.

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​Dear Municipal Official,
As a CAP member of the Southern Tier West Regional Planning and Development Board (STW), we want to ensure you are aware of an important upcoming federal compliance deadline that affects your municipality's website, mobile applications, and digital content.

What Is Required?
The U.S. Department of Justice has issued a final rule under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requiring all state and local government entities to ensure their digital content — including websites, online portals, mobile apps, social media, and documents — meets Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA accessibility standards.

Your Deadline: April 2028
Municipalities with a population under 50,000 — which include most CAP member communities in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua Counties — must be in full compliance by April 2028. Non-compliance may expose your municipality to formal complaints and legal action, like physical ADA violations.

What Does This Mean for Your Municipality?
Your municipality will need to:

• Designate an ADA Coordinator (or assign responsibility to an existing staff member)
• Audit your current website and digital content for accessibility gaps
• Remediate any non-compliant content, images, forms, PDFs, and videos
• Adopt an ADA Accessibility Policy and grievance procedure
• Provide staff training on digital accessibility standards
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Free Training Available — Act Now
STW is pleased to offer access to the following no-cost virtual training resources to help your staff prepare:

Training	Provider	Cost	Format
ADA Title II Tutorial	ADA National Network	Free	Self-paced online
ADA Basic Building Blocks	ADA National Network	Free	Self-paced online
Monthly Accessibility Webinars	AccessabilityOnline.org	Free	Live and recorded webinar
ADA Title II Web Rule Webinar	ADA.gov	Free	On-demand webinar
ADA Title II Tutorial	Great Lakes ADA Center	$5.00	Self-paces online

Tools

• Contrast Checker
• ​​Tutorials for Images
• Website Accessibility Checker - SiteImprove
• Website Accessibility Checker - AudioEye
• Create and verify PDF accessibility, Acrobat Pro
• WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

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Resources

• WCAG Legislation​
• ​Fact Sheet: New Rule on the Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Apps Provided by State and Local Governments
• ADA Digital Accessibility Compliance: FAQ and Checklist
• Pre-Publication Accessibility Checklist
• ​ADA Digital Accessibility Policy (Template)
• ADA Digital Accessibility Grievance Procedure (Template)
• ​Free Training Courses
• Accessibility Online

How STW Can Help
STW is available to assist CAP members with:

• Connecting municipalities to training and technical assistance resources
• Providing guidance on website audits and remediation steps
• Sharing template ADA accessibility policies and grievance procedures
• Coordinating group virtual training sessions
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Please contact our office at 716-945-5301 or [email protected] if you have questions or would like to attend an upcoming training session. We strongly encourage all municipalities to begin this process now!